Star Wars – news round-up

As expected a veritable feast of Star Wars news has been announced at Disney’s D23 Expo – from a new Force Awakens poster to confirmed cast for Rogue One to the director of Episode IX.

As expected, there was no new footage from The Force Awakens but we did get a brand new poster featuring John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Harrison Ford. I may be wrong, but it looks like Ford is going to have more than just a cameo in the film.

Equally, if not more exciting, the cast of the first spin-off, Rogue One, has been confirmed. We knew Felicity Jones and Forrest Whitaker were due to star but they’ve now been joined by Mads Mikkelsen, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen; Jiang Wen, Riz Ahmed and Alan Tudyk, who will give life to a motion-capture character.

Filming has just begun in the UK and the story is expected to focus on a plot point from A New Hope: someone stole the Empire’s plans for the Death Star, which is why Darth Vader intercepted Princess Leia’s ship on its “diplomatic mission” in the first scene of that movie.

As well as a casting update, the first official, picture of Jones, Pena and other members of the cast has been released.

And finally, the director of Episode IX has been revealed. It’s a slam dunk as far as I’m concerned: Colin Treverrow – the director of Jurassic World.

“This is not a job or an assignment,” Trevorrow said in a statement. “It is a seat at a campfire, surrounded by an extraordinary group of storytellers, filmmakers, artists and craftspeople. We’ve been charged with telling new stories for a younger generation because they deserve what we all had — a mythology to call their own. We will do this by channeling something George Lucas instilled in all of us: boundless creativity, pure invention and hope.”